Well.....our worst fears came true. All three boxes were rather weak as the autos were all on the low end variety. Normally when we get together at least one of us pull a card in which we declare a winner of the best box. It was really hard to determine who got the best.
As you can see not much in the way of quality. I do like the McCutchen diecut insert, but I've pulled that card already. The best card was most likely the Almonte rookie /50. It was the lowest numbered card from the break. We determined that Micah pulled the best card which was an Andrew Heaney numbered to 199 auto. In terms of value it leaves something to be desired, but Heaney is a big time arm and has a ton of potential. It is likely he could join the Marlins staff next year.
This break really didn't change my impression of Chrome. It is always a fun break for a decent price. You just have the same type of gamble as if you were buying a Bowman product. My biggest complaint is that Chrome has a lot of autos of guys that are not even prospects. Lots of low end reliever type of prospects were used as filler. Either way it was a fun night of talking sports and drinking of a few good beers. I even acquired some trade bait from Micah in a fun in person trade.
As always any of these cards are for trade.
I'm very interested in a bunch of these cards. Please email me at caitlinjennings64@yahoo.ca Thanks!
ReplyDeleteemail sent.
DeleteBoth Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome seemed really rough this year. Very few colored ref's, and as you said the player selection is a lot of guys whose big league careers are almost over by the time they get their rookie card.
ReplyDeleteI picked up a Lambo TC auto on COMC yesterday for something like $1.50. I still think Lambo could turn out to be a decent bench bat at the worse, but it doesn't bode well for a product when one of the "hits" is selling for that low just a couple months after release.
I think it is a perfect storm of a weaker rookie class to go along with some odd auto choices. On the flip side the price is really low for a box so you can't expect a huge return on investment.
DeleteOther than a box of minis, I haven't bought any packs since Allen & Ginter in mid-Summer. I'm coming to the conclusion that I will buy from time to time to replenish my trade stocks, but otherwise I'm either buying on the secondary market or trading to get cards I need.
ReplyDeleteMy box opening is more social these days. It gets my friends and I together to talk sports and drink a few beers. In some ways since we only order cheaper boxes it is cheaper than hitting the bars and having dinner somewhere.
DeleteI use to be a heavy pack opener back when I was in college. Like you I just got tired of missing on boxes and not getting what I wanted.
I suppose that one more thing that made TC disappointing this year was that this year's rookie class in general just wasn't strong as the one we had last year.
ReplyDeleteI mean sure this year Topps Chrome had Jose Abreu, George Springer, Gregory Polanco and a few other guys but it's still a significant drop-off from last year when names like Puig, Fernandez, Machado, Ryu, Cole, Bundy, Zuninio, Miller, Profar, Skaggs, Cingrani, Wheeler and Myers made up nearly half of the rc autograph checklist.
Sorry you had a rough break. For whatever it's worth this year's Bowman Chrome is pretty brutal too and Michael Choice was a pretty intriguing guy who was one of the top A's prospects at one point. Although his 2014 did not go too great.
You are right. If this year was loaded we wouldn't have been able to open Chrome as it would have been too expensive. It sill is a fun box to open because you do have the chance to pull some really nice stuff. At least at this price you really can't get mad if you have a dud. This was just the first time we all got shut out at the same time.
DeleteYou are right about Choice. He was a solid prospect, but he struggled this year. He is still young enough to come through.